The Crafter Complex is a series of buildings that contain craft halls and rooms for the crafters of New Atricis to work. There is a single dorm building for apprentices, while journeyman and masters live in second floor rooms in their respective crafts. Off to the side from the complex is the largest building, the Infirmary, where everyone in the Weyr receives Healer attention and desk workers keep track of who comes and goes at the entrance to the Infirmary.

A hand ran through dark hair as Devyn stood in front of the Infirmary, getting himself together. Ever since his boyfriend had died, he always needed to take a minute to just gather himself when he came here. Today should have been a happier day, but he couldn't shake those thoughts. The chimera handler knew eventually he would be able to, especially since there were different circumstances surrounding why he was here today.

Over the past two sevendays, or well, almost two sevemdays, he had been coming here everyday, and spending a little bit of time with the blue rider while he recovered. For a little while, the man had found himself wondering if the rider was going to survive. After a few days, it had seemed that the rider would indeed live, and heal physically. Emotionally, the handler knew Ambr was probably still a mess. While they had been talking, they hadn't been talking much.

Thankfully, when Devyn wasn't there, Ambr's fancy flit was there with him to keep him company. Letting his mind shift to the fancy flit for a moment, Devyn couldn't help but smile ever so slightly. Thank goodness that he had managed to get the flit to start eating. If it wouldn't have worked out like that, Ambr could have lost both his dragon and has flit. But, everything had worked out for the better there as well, so Devyn quickly dismissed those thoughts as well, or tried to.

Now, the blue rider was healed enough to leave the Infirmary, which is why the chimera handler was here. He didn’t want him to have to go home alone, so he was going to go with him. Maybe he would see if he wanted to go to the Hatching Feast. Although, now that he thought about it a bit more, that might not be the best idea. Maybe he could just offer to cook him dinner? Or maybe they could just go out for a drink?

Pondering the choices he had set in front of himself, Devyn headed into the Infirmary and straight to the blue rider’s room. When he arrived he gave his friend a quick smile. ”You ready to get out of here?”

After nearly two weeks of denial and hope, two weeks of search and failure, Ambrosius slipped out of bed to close his window shutters. He grew weary from days of staring off at the cliffs, begging the powers that be to reveal Bowith's starry hide perched upon the precipice. Once upon a time, the blue once had a spot on that rocky face, two dragon lengths from the water fall, one dragon length from the ground. Every day he settled into that particular jut of stone. Bowith often boasted how it was not only his favourite spot, but the best one, and if ever another dragon were to take it, he would simply shove them off of it (for while it fit him perfectly, it was scarcely enough for any beast larger than the blue. Several pyrites seemed to adore it nearly as much as Bowith, as did a elderly blue, but none of them could ever stop Bowith from nudging them off the sunning stone.

After the blue died and Ambrosius awoke, he stared out the window. The journeymen who treated him swore he stared off at nothing, but in truth, Ambrosius stared off at that spot, that particular spot. For nearly a week, the spot remained distinctly vacant. None of the pyrites ever slipped to the jutting stone, and the elder blue remained notably absent from Bowith's space. Such mindfulness for the spot fed into Ambrosius's hope that Bowith would return from the void to claim his favoured sunning bed. They kept away, for they knew he would return! It had to be true!

My beloved, where are you? Ambrosius reached out for his dragon, his heart begging for the beast to return.

And then the elder blue returned to the jutting stone.

Down heartened at first, Ambrosius cried at the sight of that grey hide. But then it struck him. This, this must summon Bowith! How often had he shoved his elder off the stone? He rarely allowed for any other beast but himself to take up purchase on his spot. It was his bed!

And yet he never came.

That was the moment Ambrosius finally accepted Bowith's passing, and it was for this reason he closed the shutters himself.

He could not stand the sight of another dragon claiming Bowith's favourite stone. He could not stand the sight of other dragons. Most of all, he could not stand the presence of other dragonriders. When Unna came to check on him, Ambrosius told her to leave him be. He envied her, and vilified her for what he could never have again.

Are you sure? Ambr, I co-

Just leave, he cut her off.

The bluerider retreated, leaving the dragonless man to mourn in the darkness.

***

In the days to follow, Ambrosius grew anxious about his confines. Bound to his bed as wounds healed, he was forced to endure the memories of his loss without distraction. His company also did little to ease his pains. The platitudes of sympathy that embittered him towards healers and dragonriders alike. Mul'rec, Sid'nis, his wingmates, his leaders, all of them he dismissed with a hardened scowl. Even Inez found herself cast away by the dragonless man.

But Devyn, he permitted the man's faithful company whenever the handler was willing to spare it. Day by day, he spoke to the man, let the handler walk with him down the infirmary corridors as he regained his strength. But Ambrosius was not blind to the pains these visits caused the handler. Despite his own suffering, he caught the weariness in Devyn's blue eyes that warned Ambrosius of the sacrifices Devyn made to see him as often as he did. No matter the weight upon his heart, Ambrosius always managed to put his own pain aside just long enough to thank the handler for his time.

Perhaps this was the reason Devyn was the one to gather him on the day of his discharge from the ward.

When the handler arrived, Ambrosius's back faced him as he slipped on a tunic. In that brief moment, the toll of his condition revealed itself by the bumps along his spine that the ribs that Devyn might count with his eyes. Losing Bowith had caused Ambrosius to loss his appetite, missing so many meals despite the insistence of the healers. He simply could not bring himself to eat much. Fortunately, it meant Duesso had a copious amount to sustain himself on. The emerald seemed in much better condition than when Ambrosius initially awoke, and all thanks to Devyn caring for him during those critical days.

”You ready to get out of here?”

The handler's voice alerted the dragonless man to his presence, yet he did not respond with any sort of immediacy. Instead, Ambrosius thought on his answer, and realised the fact Devyn and Isamuyn were about to escort him back to his old home... back where the dragons roamed. "I suppose," he conceded. Though his tone lacked any indication of excitement, a sourness could distinctly be heard there, one that dreaded the fact he would soon face other dragons again. "Best to get on with it now, though."

Devyn could not have been happier that his friend was getting released from the Informary. With the walks they had taken, the chimera handler knew that the blue rider was indeed on the mend. Although, come to think of it, it wasn’t the physical aspects of his recovery that concerned Devyn. What concerned him most about the blue rider was what this was going to do to him emotionally.

Even in all their walks, no one has brought up Bowith. Honestly, Devyn was a bit scared to, because he knew how painful it probably was for his friend, and why talk about something painful unless you were ready to talk about it? While Devyn had always heard that it was good to talk about stuff like that, he hadn’t really wanted to talk to people when Esca had died. So again, he knew it was probably not a good idea. If Ambr wanted to talk about it, the chimera handler was going to be there for him. Until then though, he knew it was probably better not to push to much.

Frowning a bit, he studied the man’s back, but knew that was just kind of what the man did for the time being, and Devyn couldn’t blame him one bit. When the man did finally answer, the handler could not blame him for the lack of excitement in his voice. If he was going back to his apartments where everyone else still had their bondeds, where he had lived for so many Turns with his dragon, he knew he would not be really all that eager to go back.

Smiling softly he said to his friend, ”Well, I was going to suggest going to the Hatching, but I figured it wasn’t the best thing. So I think we should go out somewhere if you don’t really feel like going straight home. I have got all night, I don’t have anything else planned. My whole plan was to try and make this as easy for you as I could. I know it won’t be easy, but I can try and help a bit.”

No amount of numbweed could fully numb him from deep pain in his belly. Though the wound healed, and without infection, it still throbbed with the slightest provocation, and ached even when he reclined. Thus, when he turned to face Devyn and approached him, he did so with a distinct stiff step.

”Well, I was going to suggest going to the Hatching, but I figured it wasn’t the best thing. So I think we should go out somewhere if you don’t really feel like going straight home. I have got all night, I don’t have anything else planned. My whole plan was to try and make this as easy for you as I could. I know it won’t be easy, but I can try and help a bit.”

"They Hatching Feast?" Ambrosius clarified. He recalled the humming of dragons a several days earlier, and how the very sound of it made his heart feel like it was burned by the white blaze of firestone. He would rather soon forget it, but Devyn had to bring the memory life with the utterance of the dreadful event. The merest mention of the hatching drew a noticeable scowl onto the man's face, yet courteous did Ambrosius remain. "I'd rather not go anywhere near hatchings, feasts, or-" this throat tightened "-dragons." Even the mention of them tore at what little remained of his soul. "That is no longer my world. Therefore I'd rather give them and their hatchlings a large berth."

He looked to Duesso, who took to Devyn's shoulder at his command. His body struggling as it was, he did not think he could bear the weight of his own flit at this time. "All I know right now is that I need to leave this sharding Infirmary. I've spent enough time here..." A pause followed, mindful of his next words, "I do not wish to return to my apartment either. Though I've no idea where I would go." With the Feast about to ensue, he doubted he would be able to speak with the Headman about proper accommodations.

Ambrosius was not even entirely convinced whether he should even remain in a place like Atricis, when every corner of it reminded him of Bowith and the life he once lived.

It didn’t take but a few seconds for a frown to appear on his face as he nodded when the blue rider corrected him. A small sigh escaped him and he quickly tried to think of something to say to try and make Ambr feel better. At the same time, a red tinge spread across his face. Why he had felt the need to say, and further explain it, he had no idea. It had been an obviously bad idea from the beginning, and yet for some reason, the chimera handler had wanted to give Ambr a chance to make his own decision.

As the man spoke once more, Devyn found himself cringing inwardly. Yes, of course he didn’t want to be around anything that would remind him of Bowith. Of course the handler wanted to kick himself, but he decided that probably wouldn’t help now, so there was no point in worrying about it. Nodding he said, ”Yes of course. I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t trying to be insensitive,”

Silence stood between them for a few moments, and then Devyn saw the flit moving towards him, and then landing on his shoulder. It probably would have shocked him, if this wasn’t how it had been for the past sevenday when hey had went on their walks. Honestly, Devyn didn’t mind having Duesso on his shoulder, especially since it meant that it was easier for Ambr to get around for the time being.

At his friend’s words, Devyn’s face became thoughtful, trying to think of something they could do, or somewhere they could go, even with the other man still recovering. Finally he managed to say, ”Well, we could always go to the pub we met in? Or you are certainly more than welcome to come to my place and just have some food and a drink or two. You are more than welcome to stay as long as you want. I wasn’t planning on doing anything but being here for you today. So I will just leave it up to you.”

”Well, we could always go to the pub we met in? Or you are certainly more than welcome to come to my place and just have some food and a drink or two. You are more than welcome to stay as long as you want. I wasn’t planning on doing anything but being here for you today. So I will just leave it up to you.”

Eyes did not immediately meet Devyn, and instead slipped here and there in thought. While leaving the weyr in its entirety certainly appealed to Ambrosius, he knew his body would not be able to withstand the ride for such a distance. Only briefly did he consider Bowith a possibility for transport until he remembered once more his beloved dragon was no more.

A tear was shed at the thought, the very realisation that he could no longer depend upon his faithful companion. Bowith was gone, and Ambrosius could never allow himself to forget. A hand slipped over his cheek, dashing the evidence of his sorrow away for all it pervaded in his heart. "I don't think I would survive a ride to the tavern. Perhaps your place would be best." They would still need to ride on Isamuyn, though only for a short while. If the wher merely walked, the ride, while longer, would be bearable for Ambrosius. However, "But I do not want to impose on you, Devyn."

As the chimera handler waited for a reply, his hand slowly moved up to the flit on his shoulder, and gently stroked him. Duesso had always been friendly to him, but they had even more of a bond now. Obviously, it was nowhere near the bond that the flit and Ambr shared, but since Ambr had been hurt, the two of them had become a bit closer. Although, honestly, the blue eyed handler still felt a bit awkward sometimes, petting someone else's flit. Duesso didnt seem to mind though, and Ambr didn't either, so he guessed everything was fine. Until someone said something, that was what he was going to keep telling himself, even if he never got himself to fully believe it.

Finally, Ambr answered, and Devyn gave a quick nod. Yes, going to his place did seem to probably be the best thing. While he knew his friend had healed, he wasn't exactly sure how much he could handle, hence why he had even bothered suggesting the tavern. If the other man did not feel up to it, then that was fine. Well, there, that was settled now. Giving his friend a soft smile he said, "Trust me, it's no problem at all."

Isamuyn, can you meet us out front of the Infirmary? We're going to take Ambr back to my place

After Isamuyn answered, the handler turned back to Ambr and said, "Isamuyn is outside waiting to take us back. He said he promises to be careful." As they walked towards the door, Devyn couldn't stop himself from hoping that everything was going to go as smoothly as he thought it would. Quickly, he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. As long as they took it easy on their way back, everything would be fine.

Even if half of him had ceased to care about most things in the world, enough of his propriety remained for him to feel a tinge of guilt for imposting.

"Trust me, it's no problem at all." But Devyn's assurance assuaged him of the discomfort he felt from the imposition, allowing Ambrosius to fall to ease once more, offering the rarest of sad smiles. Yet for all the faintest curl of his lips was present, it did not reach his eyes. Ambrosius doubted any smile ever would ever again. The length of the expression was the very definition of brevity, for it fell as quickly as it rose. It was none existent once again.

"Isamuyn is outside waiting to take us back. He said he promises to be careful."

"Will you pass along my thanks to him?" Ambrosius requested of the handler. It did relieve him that Isamuyn would practice caution with the dragonless man. The sutures remained securely in place, thus it would not do to pop one of them... earning him a trip back to the infirmary.

Yet, there was one thought that ate away at the once rider... with the feast soon to commence, would Devyn not want to go to it? To meet his friends who were far more jovial than Ambrosius was at present? Once they reached the outside of the infirmary with Isamuyn not far from them, Ambrosius had to ask. "Are you certain you do not wish to go to the Feast? You shouldn't have to worry about me. I'm sure there are others who would like to see you, others who offer far better company than I ever could."

Even dragonless and bitter, he recognised the world was still happy without him. There was no reason Devyn could not enjoy that sort of warmth, the joy of life that Ambrosius now found himself bereft of.

Once again, the chimera handler told himself that he had to keep his spirits up. Ambr was just hurting now, that’s why he was he way he was. While he wished there was something he could do to help, his mind drew a blank, and he knew there was really nothing he could do in this case. All he could do was hope that eventually, Ambr would somewhat return to the way he had been. Until then, he just had to be his friend and be there for him.

Once he had assured him that it was no problem to have him over, he was glad to see the smile, although his own smile faltered ever so slightly when he noticed that the smile did not reach his friend’s eyes. For now, the chimera handler would just have to be grateful that the other man was smiling at all. Then, in a moment, the look was gone, but Devyn knew he had noticed him, but obviously he didn’t say anything about it.

Chuckling softly at the comment about passing on his thanks, Devyn nodded. ”Of course I will.” Obviosuly if Isamuyn hadn’t already known about taking it slow, Devyn would have made sure he did before they had set out though. Devyn wasn’t going to let either of them risk something happening g to Ambr that might lead to him being back in the Infirmary again.

Devyn looked at him, blue eyes studying his friend as asked the chimera handler if he would rather be at the feast than with him. Shaking his head, Devyn tried to think of the right words to say. Finally he just said, ”I’m not really interested in a feast now. If I was worried about what kind of company I was going to be around, I probably would not have offered to come and help you, or offered to let you come to my apartment. As much you think you do, it’s probably not a good idea for you to be alone anyway. Trust me, I’m fine with spending the time with you.”

By now the two of them had reached the door and Devyn pushed it open, holding it for his friend. Outside, the chimera stood waiting for them and Devyn went and stood next to Isamuyn, waiting just incase Ambr needed some help.

”I’m not really interested in a feast now. If I was worried about what kind of company I was going to be around, I probably would not have offered to come and help you, or offered to let you come to my apartment. As much you think you do, it’s probably not a good idea for you to be alone anyway. Trust me, I’m fine with spending the time with you.”

For all Ambrosius doubted him, at Devyn's side he remained. Part of him recognised it was best to send the man away, but even the dragonless recognised his need for him and the company that he offered. Devyn had become one of the few he could trust and withstand. Without Devyn, Ambrosius did not know where else he could turn to. Thus the once rider stepped through the open door Devyn held for him, and for the first time in weeks, a gust of fresh air greeted him.

The outside world.

Green eyes looked about the weyr yard that greeted him, noting the rich tones of the summer verdant, and the bright blue sky over head. Everything spoke of a life he needed to cherish. Bowith told him as much every day the summer sun shined its brightest, and yet Ambrosius failed to honour his dragon's wishes as continued to feel that distinct lack of joy in his heart.

Lips trembled and the tears flowed unabated, threatening to consume the dragonless man. Some how, he managed to find a reserve of strength to busy away the sorrows that circled the hollow of his heart. "We-" he swallowed back the lump in his throat "-We should go."

With much needed help, Ambrosius mounted the daywher, though not without a distinct strain at his belly. A hand floated to the wound, holding it protectively until the sharp sensations were quelled by his lack of movement. "I'm ready," he assured his friend.

Already Duesso took flight to soar ahead of them for the dayhandler pavilions.